DES MOINES – Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus Monday night at over 50% of the vote.
Ron DeSantis finished far behind in second with about 21%, and Nikki Haley came in third with about 19%. As NIT earlier predicted, Vivek Ramaswamy was nowhere near viable with only about 7% of the vote. He quickly ended his campaign just about an hour after the party was over.
“The people spoke loud & clear about who they want. Tonight I am suspending my campaign and endorsing Donald J. Trump,” Vivek unsurprisingly proclaimed. He’s been a Trump stooge from day 1.
The turnout was abysmal. In a state with over 3 million residents and 2.2 million registered voters, only about 110,000 votes were cast. The weather probably played a big role in holding the numbers down; the bitter cold likely kept all but the most loyal and frothy-mouthed MAGA’s at home. In what appeared to be a severely un-sophisticated system, Republicans at caucus sites scribbled the name of their candidate on a piece of paper and tossed their “ballots” into a bag to be tallied. Some said voter registrations and IDs were not checked. Not many MAGAs declared voter fraud, however.
Iowans voting, writing their candidate’s name on a piece of paper, throwing it into the paper bag to be tallied pic.twitter.com/aOiEZY7xHl
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) January 16, 2024
Within minutes after “voting” at 7 PM, proud Iowa voters gave a victory to a man defeated in the 2020 election by 7 million votes, who faces 91 felonies and other lawsuits across four jurisdictions. A man who led an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, thrown off ballots in Colorado and Maine because of it. A man liable for rape and owing an elderly woman millions of dollars that he cannot stop defaming. A man who appears at least 7 times on the flight logs connected to dead pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. A man on the verge of losing his fortune in New York after a judge found him liable for fraud. A man who told Iowans if they die voting for him, it will be worth it.
The fallout from the caucus was fast and furious. Ron DeSantis quickly called the vote rigged when CNN and other media called the contest for Trump at about 7:30 PM. His biggest backer, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, whom Donald Trump pillaged with insults, quickly found herself on FOX “News” telling the audience she would back Donald Trump if he is ultimately the GOP nominee for President. Nikki Haley’s campaign tried to revel in the close third place finish. She only tweeted, “Now it’s on to New Hampshire, where this campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden rematch that no one wants.” But yet appears inevitable, unless the judicial branch holds up its end of the bargain in this Republic.
From Iowa, the focus turns to New Hampshire. Nikki Haley looks stronger there. DeSantis bet it all on Iowa and will hope his meager Iowa momentum carries him there. Despite getting second place, it was very narrow. If he cannot produce a solid showing in New England, his campaign could be doomed. Haley will hope for a solid second or an insurgent win to carry her to her home state South Carolina, where anything but a win could end her campaign. Trump will carry on until he is completely beaten or incarcerated.
